At the present time installations for preparing multicomponent mixes in the production of strong alcoholic liquors and refreshment beverages incorporate mixing tanks for blend components, provided with propeller stirrers and, less frequently, with immersible pumps. These installations, however, are labor intensive, feature high specific metal consumption, and involve considerable losses of the product during operation.
One prior-art installation for preparing multicomponent liquid mixes in production of strong alcoholic liquors is disclosed in USSR Inventor's Certificate No. 247,206, cl.C 12 g, 3/04, issued in 1969.
This known installation comprises pumps for feeding alcohol and softened water to a three-chamber blender, wherein the first chamber is used to obtain a coarse water-alcohol mix, the second chamber serves for bringing said mix to a required condition and additional stirring when correcting its alcohol content, while in the third chamber the resultant mix is seasoned.
Provision of the three chambers and a mandatory stirring of the mix in the second chamber results in losses of the product when carrying out the process of blending the components.
Another prior-art installation for preparing multicomponent mixes in production of refreshment beverages is disclosed in the catalogue of advertising prospectuses available from the Hauke Co., Austria, 1968.
This known installation comprises a number of feed tanks, a receiving tank, suction and delivery pipings, and a dispensing pump unit for delivering the component of a refreshment beverage.
The blend of the beverage being prepared is then saturated with carbon dioxide gas and agitated in a separate tank with the help of a propeller stirrer, whereupon the thus-prepared blend is forwarded for further technological treatment which involves some losses of the product. However, when said installation is made use of (without the process of saturation with carbon dioxide gas) for producing strong alcoholic liquors, said losses become more substantial due to the greater value of the stock products.
In addition, one more prior-art installation for preparing multicomponent mixes in the production strong alcoholic liquors (viz., rum) is known to be in current use (cf. the prospectus of the Lewa Co. published in Federal Republic of Germany in 1976, p. 11), which installation constitutes the starting point of the present invention.
This known installation comprises a number of feed tanks, a receptacle tank, a number of suction pipings, a delivery piping, a dispensing pump unit for delivering alcohols, sugar syrup, colouring agent, and other liquid blend components, a header, and pickups of the pressure, density and alcohol content of the resultant liquid mixture.
The installation incorporates a number of dispensing pumps and mixers, each of said pumps and mixers being followed by the product density pickups which complicates the installation as a whole. Moreover, with the dispensing pumps arranged according to the aforesaid process flowsheet, the pressure differential effective between the suction and delivery ends thereof is a function of the liquid level in the feed and receiving tanks. This might result in a spontaneous overflow of the liquids in the direction of the discharge end both with the pumps running and standing still, which affects the dispensing accuracy.